It’s fantasy and it’s football

Posted By admin on Aug 11, 2017 | 0 comments

It’s not long now until the 2017-18 English Premier League season kicks off (only a few hours , in fact).

This season is extra special for me as I’ll be taking Theo to (hopefully) a couple of Spurs games at Wembley in October. That’s the plan, anyway. I’m sure we’ll be able to get tickets for the Bournemouth game. The Liverpool game may be a bit tougher.

Obviously as a Spurs fan I’m all kinds of nervous as the games get underway (another post, perhaps?). One way to reduce the nerves, however, is to set up a team or two in the EPL’s Fantasy Premier League competition. It can help take the edge off when Spurs have a stinker but Lukaku scores a hat trick and you’ve triple captained him.

I’ve had teams in FPL since god knows when, but only really started playing it properly last season. Before that I’d enter a team, play for a few weeks then get kind of too busy/bored. But having the 24/7 Premier League channel on BeIN last season got me a little more interested so I stayed the course.

And now it’s time to go again.

This season I’ve set up two teams: Wolrab Swifts (my 1st XI) and It’s a bit Spursy (my plaything – made up of players who currently play for Spurs or have played for them in the past. I don’t think they’ll do too well).

I’ll talk about Wolrab Swifts here.

My strategy going in is to build the team around as many big points scorers as possible, then make up the squad with cut price bargains who can pick up a few points here and there.

Goalkeepers

I’ve spent 9 million quid on my two goalies, who I’ll rotate in and out depending on who their teams are playing. Goalies are never among the top points scorers in FPL so I’m more than happy to lose a bit here so I have more cash for potential high scoring midfielders and strikers.

Defenders

I’ve gone with one likely high points scorer who’s supplemented by 4.5 and 5 million pound defenders. I’ll play three at the back and rotate players in and out depending on who’s playing who and whether their games are at home and away. None of the top ten players last season were defenders so again, I’m saving money in this department to spend, spend, spend further forward.

Midfielders

This is where it gets tricky as this is where the points should start to flow. With Hazard injured, and Sanchez and Coutinho likely to be off by the end of the transfer window, it’s been tough to know who to pick. But I think I’ve done okay. I’ve managed to squeeze in a couple of the big hitters, who I’ve supplemented with lower priced options. I’m going to go with four in midfield because…

Forwards

…this is where I hope to make a pig of myself as far as scoring points go. I’ve selected two top dollars strikers, along with another mid-cost striker with a string of favourable early games. Yes, Harry Kane is one of my three up front, who’ll all play, and I’ll look to take full advantage of him by using my triple captain when Spurs have an easy home game (Huddersfield, Brighton or even Bournemouth – he always scores against them).

You’ll have to wait until the weekend to see who else I’ve selected in my squad.

Hopefully you’ve got your team in. If you fancy joining the Swifts FPL, use this code: 202163-50391.